A Lost Puppy
by TheHappyKitty
Summary: On her way back to her apartment, Lucy finds something unexpected in the canal outside. And when a former enemy is lost, she's too kind-hearted to leave them to fend for themselves. JackLu (Jackal X Lucy) (Includes implications of GaLe)
1. A Stray

Lucy crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the soaked demon currently standing in her living room. "So, do you mind explaining why I found you floating in the canal outside my house?"

The ears on the demon's head flattened. The look she had on her face could be identified by males everywhere as 'Start talking, I know where it hurts most to kick you.' "Well... I don't know where to go now that Tartaros has been disbanded."

Lucy raised an eyebrow at this. "Which begs the question, how the hell did you survive?" she asked.

Jackal just shrugged at this. "It may not look like it, but I'm pretty resilient. Also, why have you not called the Magic Council yet?

Good question. Why hadn't she done that yet? "It's mostly because I'd be accused of helping you or something. I'm from Fairy Tail after all. Now - how did you end up in the canal?"

Now Jackal looked like he was ready to jump out of window, but the look on the blonde's face kept him rooted in place. "Well... I drank something. It was weird, everything started spinning afterwards."

"Was it alcoholic?" She had personally never gotten drunk enough to know if it made things spin, but being in the same guild as Cana made her suspect as much.

"What?" Jackal looked genuinely confused. "What the hell does that mean?"

Lucy blinked. Once. Twice. Then doubled over laughing. The demon only eyed her as if she was crazy. After a minute or two, she recovered enough to talk. "How much do you know about humans?"

Jackal's ears moved once again and his tail twitched. He looked like he wasn't even aware of it. It was adorable. "Not... A lot. Though I guess I have to learn, since somehow I have to make do without the other demons for a while and blowing stuff up everywhere would only make you fairies come after me again..."

Lucy thought about this for a while. He was prepared to learn about humans? Maybe, just maybe, this demon could change. "I can help you with that."

In response, she received a suspicious glare. "Really? Why? I'm a wanted criminal who hurt you. Why would you help me?"

The celestial mage shrugged. "Jellal, a friend of mine, used to be a criminal too. But now he's trying to make up for what he did and he's helped us before in the past. As long as you do the same, why wouldn't I help you?"

Jackal took a minute or so to think about this. All the while, his tail was swishing back and forth, causing Lucy to try to hold back the giggles that threatened to escape her. "Alright. Can I still blow stuff up though?"

This immediately made Lucy stopped wanting to giggle. She instead gave him a menacing look. "No."

 **A/N: This is just an idea I randomly had. Should I keep this a one-shot or make it into a multi-chapter story to update with a lower priority than my ongoing RoLu? Please review and tell me if you enjoyed it or not, I always love hearing what people think. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Adjustment is Hard

**Adjustment is hard:**

Lucy was starting to question her sanity. Who in their right mind would have ever invited a demon who loved nothing more than to blow stuff up to stay with them? She fully blamed Team Natsu and their recklessness. It must be contagious.

None of this was helped by the fact that Jackal was, in fact, part jackal. In just five days of him staying with her, she had had to deal with three dead animals in her living room. It had been hard to explain those to her team.

To top it off, Jackal loved to pretend that none of this was his problem. That is, until Lucy explained to him, in perfect detail, exactly what Erza would do to him if she or anyone else from her guild found him. That at least sent him running for cover whenever he smelled anyone outside.

Eventually, they had worked out a system. Lucy would wake up, make breakfast, and head to the guild. Jackal usually went out at about the same time to run around in the forest. Lucy never knew what he did there, and she was pretty sure she didn't want to know. Thankfully, no mysterious craters had appeared there recently.

So far, Lucy had ever gone out on short missions that let her return the same day. However, that was starting to become a problem ever since Master had said that if an S-Class wizard (Erza) went with them, they could go on an S-Class mission.

Natsu's and Gray's constant pestering was starting to get on her nerves, especially since Erza had joined in just yesterday. Now Wendy was the only one that still sided with Lucy, but she suspected it was only a matter of time until they converted her to their side.

All in all, Lucy had come to the conclusion that Jackal might need to move out. Unfortunately, when she suggested joining Crime Sorciere, Jackal had pretty much climbed onto the roof. She wondered if there was some feline in him as well.

She cursed her kind-hearted nature, which wouldn't let her just kick him out unless he had a place to stay. She was starting to run low on money, and with Jackal living with her, she not only had to buy extra food, but scents to hide his stench from Natsu's well-trained nose.

Today, things had decided to go especially wrong. Because of those scents, it became harder for Jackal to smell potential intruders. And that was how they ended up like this: Levy standing in the doorway, gaping at the demon sittings at Lucy's table with bacon shoved in his mouth while Lucy happily fried eggs.

 _Crap._

 **A/N: Oh wow! This story has been getting so much support! Unfortunately, I'm really low on inspiration for this, hence the short chapter. Feel free to suggest stuff!**

 **Oh, and I have decided to make this a multi-chapter story C: However, I won't be updating this nearly as much as my other story, since the inspiration levels for that one are much higher. Updates for this story should come out every two or so days. Please review, and consider following and/or favoriting if you're enjoying this. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Our Secret

**Our Secret:**

Due to Jackal's newest antics (almost massacring a whole pen of chickens), Lucy hadn't been able to go to the guild yesterday. When she finally managed to satisfy the demon's canine instincts, she'd been too exhausted to deal with Team Natsu and chose not to go to the madhouse.

Like any best friend, Levy had gotten worried and went to check on Lucy, since Team Natsu had decided to go on a quick mission without the blonde. So imagine her surprise when, upon opening the unlocked door, she saw one of Fairy Tail's greatest enemies sitting at a table shoveling bacon into his mouth like it was an everyday occurrence.

Unfortunately, the kitchen was around the corner and so she couldn't see her friend. If she had, she would have perhaps refrained from using her Solid Script magic to send a lightning bolt straight at the furry menace. This caused a couple of things to happen. First, Jackal jumped into the air and fell onto the ground as if struck by lightning (which he, admittedly, was).

Second, Levy screamed "What did you do to Lucy?", causing the blonde in question to peek in from the kitchen.

"Oh, hey Levy." A fast inspection of the room and a glimpse at the fried demon told her what had happened. She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly and looked at the blue-haired mage. "So I'm guessing you want answers?"

Levy looked at the other girl, who was still dressed in an apron, as if she'd grown a second and distinctly Natsu-shaped head. "Yes. I really would love to know why a member of Tartaros was just sitting at your table, eating bacon, and you being okay with it!" Her voice, which had started out surprisingly calm, slowly rose throughout the statement until she was almost screaming.

Jackal, who was now sitting up and rubbing his head, gave her a glare. "Not so loud," he told her, completely disregarding everything Levy had just said.

Before the quick-witted bookworm could reply, Lucy jumped in. "Long story short - when Tartaros disbanded Jackal didn't have anywhere to go and started to wander around. I'm still not aware of the specifics, but a few days ago I found him floating in the canal outside my house. He doesn't understand humans at all, but since he seemed like he could change for the better, I'm allowing him to temporarily stay here. That cover everything?"

"Hold up." Levy massaged her temples and thought for a few seconds. Then she gave Lucy a scrutinizing look. "Are you two dating?"

Now it was Lucy's turn to look at Levy as if she had grown a second head, this time Mira-shaped. "What?! No, of course not!"

Loud coughing and wheezing could be heard from the demon, whose reaction to Levy's statement had been to choke on the bacon he had been attempting to finish.

Levy gave them both a very suspicious look and started to open her mouth to say something. However, Lucy decided to jump in before her friend got any weird ideas. "Can you please keep this a secret? I don't need Natsu burning down my apartment."

Levy gave this some thought. "Alright, as long as he doesn't hurt you and it's only temporary."

Jackal mumbled something along the lines of 'terrifying red-haired monster' while Lucy just smiled and nodded. "That sounds fair."

The Solid Script mage gave her an answering grin. "Then it can be our secret."

 **A/N: Right now, I'm not getting much in the way of inspiration. However, an idea or two are starting to form so it should be good. Anyways, please leave a review and consider leaving a favorite and/or a follow if you enjoyed. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Complications

**Complications:**

There is a saying _'Once you share a secret with at least one person, it is no longer a secret.'_ Oh, how Lucy wished she'd remembered that. If she had, perhaps she wouldn't be in this mess right now.

At first, everything had seemed to be going well. Levy had been pretty good at keeping the secret, even sometimes covering for Lucy when she had to go apologize to distraught pet owners. Or rather, former pet owners.

Unfortunately, Team Natsu had an annoying habit of royally screwing up _everything,_ even things they had no idea about. A big part of this was the team's namesake - the idiotic pyromaniac himself.

He had been the first one to start the 'S-Class mission campaign', which Happy and Gray immediately joined. In just a few days, Erza had become a zealous follower as well, urging Lucy to go off with them on some god-forsaken island to collect the head of monster that may or may not exist every chance she got.

For a long time, Wendy supported the blonde whenever she stubbornly refused. That is, until fate had decided to kick Lucy in the behind when she least expected it.

This kick had come in the form of someone that no one would have ever expected. The fact that she even participated in the team's urging was downright unfair - no one in their right mind would ever disobey her.

This person was none other than Porlyusica, the one person who was just as good as Carla at convincing the Sky Maiden. Apparently, she found out about Team Natsu's plight. Normally, she wouldn't have given a crap, but then she learned where the team would be going.

Apparently, the island where the mythical creature supposedly lived was the same one where an extremely rare herb grew. Usually, nobody would go there given the danger, but the healer thought that since the team would be going anyway, they might as well gather it.

And that was how Lucy lost her last supporter. Well, active supporter. Levy couldn't really take a part in these discussions - and she used the term loosely - given that that would attract attention.

So the celestial wizard concluded that she would have to somehow find a way to get Jackal to survive while she went off for a few weeks. However, she had absolutely no idea how to achieve such a feat and so she did what anyone would do - she turned to her best friend for help.

That turned out to be her second largest mistake. Levy would have been willing to let him stay with her for a week or two, but the problem was that she couldn't. Unlike Lucy, the bluenette lived in a dorm with most of the other Fairy Tail girls. Having Jackal stay there would be like hiding an elephant in a chicken coop. (Or a jackal. That would be much more accurate - however, the author would prefer to be creative with her similes.)

Disappointed, Lucy had already started to rack her brain for another solution when the bookworm exclaimed she had an idea. The blonde had been so overjoyed to hear this that she forgot to take the proper precautions when involving any of her guildmate's ideas.

Even worse had been trusting Levy that it was totally harmless. Levy's brilliant idea had been that she knew _exactly_ who the demon should stay with for the time of Lucy's absence. She said for Lucy to just trust her and that she would bring the person over to her apartment in a way that wouldn't attract attention.

Sometimes, Lucy truly regretted her life decisions because the person Levy had shown up with at her doorstep was far from harmless. Just one sight of the person in question had Lucy spitting out her tea and questioning her friend's sanity.

"Seriously Levy?! Him?! Have you gone crazy?!"

"No Lu! Think about it - he's perfect. Your team will never even think about going over to his place!"

Lucy just shook her head, already picturing what would happen should she allow him and Jackal in a room together. "Magnolia will be destroyed," she whispered quietly, her imagination showing her nothing but burning ruins with the guild, her apartment, and everything else in her beloved city leveled to the ground.

Levy gave her an over-optimistic smile. "I'm sure it won't be that bad! A week or two would be manageable I think."

Lucy once again shook her head, her blonde hair flying around her from the force of her denial. "No! I love Fairy Tail and Magnolia too much to allow this!"

"To allow... What exactly?" the man spoke up for the first time.

Lucy gulped. "N-Nothing."

Levy gave her a scowl and opened her mouth, but for once the male was faster. "Doesn't seem like nothing. Now tell me - I promise not to destroy anything."

Lucy thought about this _very_ carefully. Well, he'd promised, right? "Alright, but in case anything happens, you're paying for the damages."

Marching through the room, she opened the door to her closet so her guildmate could see the slightly disheveled demon inside.

"Gajeel, this is Jackal. Jackal, this is Gajeel."

 **A/N: I know, I haven't updated in a long time. I'm sorry. My brain just couldn't come up with anything for a continuation. Until today, that is. I always have a long journey from school to where I live and I use the subway for most of it. So today I was thinking about it and I got this idea. I already have a pretty good idea of how it will go after the S-Class quest - the only question right now is how the mission itself will unfold.**

 **Please review to tell me what you think so I can continue to write better stories. If you enjoyed, consider dropping a follow or favorite! Thanks for reading! (Ironically, right now I'm listening to the OP 20 song - the one from the Tartaros arc XD)**


	5. The Adventures of a Jackal

**The Adventures of a Jackal**

Jackal was a very proud demon.

There was a time when just his name struck fear into people's hearts and raising a single hand would make everyone in the immediate vicinity scream and run for their lives.

He had been happy with that life. Terror was what he did best. He quite enjoyed the pitiful begging of humans as he played his games. There was nothing more soothing to him than a shrill shriek just before he detonated a bomb beneath someone.

Murdering the Magic Council had been great fun for him. The people that controlled the magic on the entire continent had been no better at resisting death than civilians. Most of them had died in the initial bang, the others he'd hunted down and toyed with for his personal pleasure.

When one of the old men yelled at one of his subordinates to run, he'd nearly lost it. Did he think running would do any good? Then again, there was nothing else they could do against him. Just that thought alone never failed to bring a smile to his face.

Then the first disaster had struck. It came in the form of a pink-haired pyro - to this day, Jackal hadn't learned his name. Not only had the little squirt had the gall to _swallow_ his wonderful explosions, he'd forced Jackal to revert to his ethereal form.

But still, this hadn't been enough. Even in his ethereal form, Jackal had been defeated. And when he had the chance to go out with a bang, to level the town and forever leave his mark on the land, that little flying furball had interfered.

Jackal still wasn't sure how a cat could fly, but there would have been at least _some_ satisfaction in knowing the abomination had been blown to bit, but even this small measure of comfort had been denied to the demon. He hadn't been able to kill a single person. The memories of the day still made him grit his teeth together and want to destroy everything in sight.

Honestly, that humiliation would have been enough to last Jackal his abnormally long lifetime. However, things decided to get even worse. Not only did Fairy Tail have the nerve to challenger Tartaros, they had _won._ The entire experience was somewhat traumatic for the half-canine (possibly part feline too - only Zeref knows).

Jackal never wanted to recall the entire ordeal, but there was one picture that was burned into his memory - the blonde's face as she blasted him with that spell of hers. As soon as he had woken up among the the rubble, he'd vowed to murder her in the most painful way possible.

After that, he started to wander. It was pure chance that happened to bring him into Magnolia, even if he didn't recognize the city at the time. Being thirsty, he'd made his way into the first place he'd come across (which so happened to be a bar).

It really wasn't his fault that he'd ordered what everyone else did. Really, it WASN'T!

He had been quite alarmed to find out that consuming the yummy liquor made the world spin. Even more alarming had been waking up to find himself in a strange, foreign, not to mention horribly _pink_ apartment.

He didn't really remember anything about a canal, so he had chosen not to recount his exploits to his 'savior'. Also, there was no polite way of saying 'I was scouring the land, searching for you, so I could fire off millions of tiny explosions around your body to fill every inch of your being with agony as my revenge. Actually, give me an opening and I'll still do it.'

Yeah, no. He was not doing that, even though her reaction would probably be highly amusing. Instead, he chose to stay with her, waiting for a perfect chance. Unfortunately, his karma had caught up with him. Whenever an opportunity presented itself, something happened to mess it up. The doorbell ringing, a spirit appearing, even the fire alarm went off once just to interrupt his amazing plan! It was false, of course.

'Disgruntled', 'frustrated', 'agitated', even 'pissed off' would all be giant understatements as to how he felt when he was informed of the fact that he would be staying with Gajeel. Surprisingly, the big guy was pretty much okay with it. He had waited to hear Lucy's explanation, which he thankfully found satisfying.

And now Jackal had to live with a walking wall of iron.

Great.

Just great.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm sorry for it being short . Honestly, this is just how it turned out. At first I planned to include the details of Jackal's stay with Gajeel, but then decided against it. Honestly, I feel like this will have a big enough impact on the plot on its own. Not only do we see Jackal's POV, but we also learn of his murderous intentions! :3 I hope it's interesting enough for chu guys!**

 **Please REVIEW! If you liked it, feel free to favorite/follow, and of course, thanks for reading this humble little story of mine. I realize it has really slow updates and I apologize! Seriously, I'm writing this even though I got food poisoning! I strongly suspect the school cafeteria.**


	6. Mission: Day One

**Surviving** **Lucy's Mission: Day One**

Lucy glared at Gray. Gray merely smirked back from where he was sitting next to Wendy, Carla, and Happy.

"And the shopkeeper! When I told him that none of the cakes were strawberry-flavored, he merely shrugged! Shrugged! Oh, how awful! Can you imagine what life in that little town must be like? To have only one sweet shop that doesn't sell any strawberry cake? And so..." Lucy tuned out Erza's recounting of a village she had travelled through a few days ago on her way back from a solo job whilst trying to subtly inch away from a green-faced Natsu.

Telling stories was all well and good, but the red-headed warrior had been recounting this to anyone who would listen ever since the event happened. It seemed that the concept of a sweets shop without strawberry cake was an unfathomable concept to the almighty Titania. Unfortunately, squished between a sick dragonslayer and a suit of armor, Lucy was the perfect captive audience and Erza seemed well aware of the fact.

Erza had been recounting this event the entire train ride.

It had been three hours.

They still had about hour left before they arrived at the backwards town in the middle of nowhere that was the only place to provide transport to the island they were heading to.

Just an hour left.

Just an hour.

She could do this.

Lucy took a deep breath, willing herself to calm down.

 _'Find your happy place, find your place happy place, find your-'_

The train ground to a screeching halt. "Due to an accident on the tracks, the train will be delayed by an about an hour. We apologize..."

It was sheer willpower that prevented Lucy from screaming and ripping her hair out in frustration.

And Erza _still hadn't stopped talking._ Had she even paused for breath during the entire minologue? It didn't seem so.

Absently, she wondered how things were going with Gajeel and Jackal. It surely couldn't be worse than here.

* * *

Gajeel glared. "No."

Jackal tilted his head to the side curiously. "What do you mean, no?"

Gajeel growled. " **No.** "

Jackal narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Why not?"

"Because," the Iron Dragon Slayer managed to grind out through gritted teeth, "I don't want _dead animals_ inside my house."

The demon just blinked, confused. "Why not?" he repeated.

Gajeel finally threw up his hands in frustration. "It's absolutely disgusting and the stench is worse than Salamander's socks! So take that," he pointed to the decapitated chicken on his bedroom floor, "and bury it somewhere outside."

"You're really weird." Before the larger man could retaliate, he continued. "In Tartaros, there was never a problem with it. Sometimes Mard Geer and Kyouka even hung them up as decorations."

Gajeel just stared at Jackal for a few seconds before turning on his heel and marching into the bathroom. When the door shut, a stream of muffled curses could be heard coming from inside. Jackal vaguely managed to catch "furry bastard" and "pet menace" in there somewhere.

He just cocked his head, bemused, before shrugging and heading outside.

He left the chicken where it was.

* * *

 **It's back! *gasps dramatically* Yeah, I had to take a bit of a break, but I'm back with this now. I know this is super short, but now I've got an amazing idea for continuing this: the next few chapters will be like a record of all the days during which Jackal and Lucy both have to somehow survive. So, this is day one. I would've made it longer, but I felt like short and sweet was the way to go, since that's how I've been writing the chapters thus far.**

 **So, any good? Hopefully, I'll be able to get out weekly updates. Not sure. School is a slave driver. But the next chapter might come faster is this gets some reviews *hint hint* Reviews are like, food, for writers. We love them. Also favorites and follow. Those work too.**


	7. Mission: Day Two

**Day Two:**

 _Boom!_

 _The sound of the explosion could be heard for miles. The few survivors left inside the ruins of the city cringed and shied away from the noise. Even though it had been going on for about an hour now, they still flinched when another one was heard. One little girl started to sob loudly, causing her mother to kneel down and hug her daughter. She whispered comforting promises into her ear, of how everything was alright, of how everyone was alive and well, and that they were going to get out of this safely. Then they could all go out for ice cream with Daddy._

 _They were lies, but it was everything they had right now._

 _Boom!_

 _The wrecked hall of a guild which had once stood tall and proud above the city shook as yet another explosion sent debris flying, collapsing a few of the walls that were still standing. Manic laughter echoed off the ruins of what was once Magnolia, prompting a few muted whimpers from the huddle of refugees nearby enough to hear._

 _Just then, his shadowed silhouette stalked around the corner, the gleam of sharp teeth all too visible. The mother kept the girl's face firmly planted in her clothes as she scooted backwards, hoping desperately not to catch his attention._

 _He laughed again._

 _"Oh yes, cower away from me! Weak humans! Can't even stand up to face me, eh?"_

 _His smirk was cruel as it stretched across his face._

 _"Since you aren't good for anything else, you might as well be good for this. My name is Jackal, tell it to your friends in the afterlife!"_

 _With that, he reached out his hand..._

Lucy shot bolt upright, panting. Cold sweat had broken out all across her body while she was asleep.

That nightmare...

It had been so vivid.

Could that really happen?

With a sinking sense of dread, Lucy realized that it _could._ Jackal was perfectly capable of attacking Magnolia at any time it pleased him. Sure, Fairy Tail would be able to subdue him after a while, but in the meantime, how many lives would be lost?

Even one was more than they could afford.

And if it happened, it would be her fault.

 _She_ was the one who pretty much invited him to live in her home. _She_ was the one to put him in a perfect position to slaughter he guild, her friends, her _family._

When she spoke to him in her apartment after she (Loki) dragged him out of the canal, all she could see at that moment was a silly and furry-looking person.

Somehow, she had believed him. She had believed that he wouldn't kill anyone. Why? She had absolutely no idea. Maybe it was just a lot of denial. A _looooot_ of denial.

Lucy really hoped Gajeel could keep a close eye on Jackal.

Because if he didn't, it was very possible that the canine (feline?) might revert back into the blood-thirsty monster she, Natsu, and Wendy had first met.

* * *

 _Meanwhile in Magnolia..._

"That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard. Why would I do my business in the bathroom when there's a perfectly good rug here?"

Gajeel just barely resisted the urge to bang his head on a wall and hopefully knock himself out to find out all this was just a really bad dream.

Bunny-girl owed him big time.

* * *

 **Yeah... I managed to get another chapter out. This is a bit different to the rest of the story - there's actual plot with character development :o I know, I surprised myself too. Lucy is an optimist and a dreamer by heart, so I see her, well, not forgetting per se, but just kind of not realizing Jackal's murderous tendencies. As for Jackal, he's restraining himself for when the perfect chance of revenge comes. He's actually planning a bit to try to make it so that FT can't stop him - and his primary target is Lucy so he will wait for her to at least come back.**

 **Also, I think I kind of got a _little_ carried away by making Jackal a half doggy/kitty. So please don't take the comedic relief too seriously. And please review! Reviews are good.**


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